Adherents.com: Religious Groups in Literature

34,420 citations from literature (mostly science fiction and fantasy) referring to real churches, religious groups, tribes, etc. [This database is for literary research only. It is not intended as a source of information about religion.]

Pg. 4: "I was alone in my house in Nashua... thinking that we were going to have a white Christmas... "; Pg. 5: "'Honest, Jill, I haven't the foggiest idea of why you're here. Christmas vacation?' "; Pg. 14: "Sam was on global television more than the hourly weather reports. He pushed Santa Claus out of the headlines... Christmas was all but forgotten; seven 'holiday specials' were unceremoniously bumped from the entertainment networks... " [Other Christmas refs., not in DB.]

"He opened a desk drawer and took out a roll of thick, glossy mediatronic paper bearing animated Christmas scenes: Santa sliding down the chimney, the ballistic reindeer, the three Zoroastrian sovereigns dismounting from their dromedaries in front of the stable... "

Pg. 14: "He had not seen her for twenty years, but her card arrived punctually every Christmas. "; Pg. 27: "Like a Christmas tree... "; Pg. 39: "But at least they all remembered him at Christmas, through duty if not affection. "

'Why, well, it's something they do. Something they've done since time out of mind. Why is Christmas in December? That doesn't square with the Gospel as I recall it. But people needed a winter solstice festival.' "

Christianity - Christmas

world

2075

Anderson, Poul. Genesis. New York: Tor (2000); pg. 16.

"Let's split the difference and call the date three-point-six-five billion B.C.E., he thought. Then one day stands for ten million years. Life began when January the first did, and this is midnight December the thirty-first, the stroke of the next new year.

So . . . along about April, single cells developed, nuclei, ribosomes, and the rest. The cells got together, algae broke oxygen free into the atmosphere, and by November the first trilobites were crawling over the sea floor. Life invaded the land around Thanksgiving. The dinosaurs appeared early in December. They perished on Christmas Day. The hominids parted company with the apes at noon today. Primitive Homo sapiens showed up maybe fifteen minutes ago. Recorded history had lasted less than one minute. And here they were, measuring the universe, ranging the Solar System, planning missions to the stars. "

"'I wanted to wish you happy holidays,' he said. 'Are you going to do anything special?'

'I don't celebrate winter holiday anymore, Christopher,' she said with a politely tolerant smile. 'I didn't believe in most of it, and the rest has been a disappointment. It's rained for Solstice Moon three years running. Santa Claus is just a nice old man with whiskers, and I'm still waiting for Jesus to decide he wants me. Hardly any point, wouldn't you say?' "

"'Perhaps we all may be.' And then she sang for Herb Asher one of the Dowland songs. It was the song the Fox traditionally sang on Christmas day, for all the planets. The most tender, the most haunting song that she had adapted from John Dowland's lute books.

When the poor cripple by the pool did lieFull many years in misery and pain,No sooner he on Christ had set his eye,But he was well, and comfort came again. "

Christianity - Christmas

world

2150

Dickson, Gordon R. The Magnificent Wilf. New York: Baen (1995)

; pg. 69.

"'An Alien? What kind of an Alien?'

'I'm not sure,' said Tom, still trying to sort out his memories of the conversation. 'It's something like the three spirits that come and visit Scrooge in Dickens' Christmas Carol. I met someone, but whoever it was was rather hard to describe--what he had to tell me even harder to understand.' "

Pg. 59: "'...Admiral Heilmann is a Lutheran on Easter and Christmas. Takagishi meditates and studies Zen. I don't know about the other two.' "; Pg. 62: "...in an old church in Siena on Christmas Eve in 2115... "

"I realized later--he represented the Lapps, including all the reindeer and Santa Clause, no doubt. He was also ordained in the First Bible Truth Church of the Holy Spirit, which I had never heard of, but which accounted for his tight-lipped deacon look. "

Christianity - Christmas

world

2250

Anderson, Poul. The Stars Are Also Fire. New York: Tor (1994); pg. 275.

"The real object of his attention, though, was beyond the clearsteel window, suspended at the very pinnacle of the spacedock. Luminous, hanging in the antrigrav like some ethereal Christmas ornament: Enterprise. "

"Returning his mind to his duty, Sam adjusted the viewscreen, and a brown-magenta cloud coalesced into view, still some distance away. Pulses of light blinked on and off within its murky depths, which gave it an oddly cheerful glow, like a surreal Christmas wreath. "

"He and Peggy had come to Wyoming... to visit their daughter and grandchildren for Christmas... "; Pg. 286: "'...She may get here for Christmas, she may not...' "; Pg. 290: "...but only over the Christmas holiday... "; Pg. 293: "...Joshua stayed through Christmas. "; Pg. 341: "...exploding the tree's fibrous trunk and settling its branches ablaze like a Christmas candelabrum. "

"This was a band of pale green plastic, three feet wide, divided into foot squares by horizontal and vertical red lines, each square perforated with thousands of tiny holes, in some of them, little plug-in lights twinkled in every color of the spectrum... He stood for a moment, looking at the Christmas-tree lights... "

Pg. 152: "...though George didn't mind a skin [on his hot chocolate drink]; his mother's had always had a skin, and so had that they served from urns in the basement of the Church of All Streets, a nondenominational church she used to take him and France to, always, it seemed, on days like this. "; Pg. 7: "That the computer could make as few errors as it did impressed Smoky less than its bizarre witlessness; it couldn't distinguish, for instance, when the abbreviation 'St.' meant 'street' and when it meant 'saint,' and directed to expand these abbreviations, would without a smile produce the Seventh Saint Bar and Grill and the Church of All Streets. " [Also, pg. 368-369.]

"Like this guy from the program that I dated once. C.A.A.C.A.A. [a twelve-step program for recovery from homosexual sex addiction] doesn't encourage dating between members, but it's acceptable if you've been in the program for a while; you're just supposed to discuss it reasonably first. His idea of a date turned out to be a service at this 'nondenominational church. It wasn't an ideal first date, but it was OK. There was an incredible choir. It was really enjoying them, and then they got to a song where they had choreographed these little movements. The choir was singing about new beginnings. Every time they sang about the sunrise in the chorus, they raised their arms in big circles above their heads. " [More, not in DB.]

Pg. 68: "'...No, that is not quite right. I felt more like the world had just begun and I was the first man. I was Adam, alone and naked in a new Eden.' "; Pg. 97: Eden; Pg. 132: "People parted before the ATV like the waters before Moses. "; Pg. 181: "'The dragon in the sea,' Tembo said reverently. 'It is written in the book of Ezekiel.' " [Some other refs.]

Evergreen shrugged, apparently seeing no point in further pretense. I was born in Mesopotamia over six thousand years ago,' he divulged, 'and have survived much more than your accomplice's knack for knife-throwing. I've lived many lives, as Solomon, Alexander, Methuseleh, and others. Believe me, the unmoving sun above us would be setting before I finished listing all my past identities and accomplishments.' He chuckled dryly. 'Consider yourselves privileged, gentlemen. You're in the presence of living history.'

So it seems, Seven reflected. "

Christianity - Old Testament

Arizona

1950

Henderson, Zenna. Pilgrimage: The Book of the People. New York: Avon (1961); pg. 146.

[The database category 'Christianity - Old Testament': references to Christianity in the literature which refers only to Old Testament verses or characters.]

"Why, my ancestors were as solid as a rock wall back of me, as far back as--as Adam, almost. "

Christianity - Old Testament

Arizona

1951

Henderson, Zenna. Pilgrimage: The Book of the People. New York: Avon (1961); pg. 101.

"Why the misery and frustration when, if they could do half of what I didn't fully understand from Joel and Matt's highly technical papers, they could make Bendo an Eden? "

Christianity - Old Testament

Arizona

1951

Henderson, Zenna. Pilgrimage: The Book of the People. New York: Avon (1961); pg. 114-115.

"'It's not fair,' I muttered aloud and illogically, 'to show me heaven and then snatch it away.'

'That's about what happened to Moses, too, you know.' "

Christianity - Old Testament

Arizona

1955

Henderson, Zenna. Pilgrimage: The Book of the People. New York: Avon (1961); pg. 19.

"'I think I'll theme this beginning,' she said. 'We've remarked on the resemblance before, you know.

' 'And the Ark rested . . . upon the mountains of Ararat.' Ararat's more poetical than Baldy, anyway!' "

Christianity - Old Testament

Arizona

1955

Henderson, Zenna. Pilgrimage: The Book of the People. New York: Avon (1961); pg. 49.

"'...I've decided to follow Karen's lead and have a theme, too. It could well have been my question at almost any time in those long years.

' 'Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?' ' "

Christianity - Old Testament

Arizona

1955

Henderson, Zenna. Pilgrimage: The Book of the People. New York: Avon (1961); pg. 81.

' 'Behold, I am at a point to die and what profit this birthright do to me? And he sold his birthright for bread and pottage.' ' "

Christianity - Old Testament

Arizona

1955

Henderson, Zenna. Pilgrimage: The Book of the People. New York: Avon (1961); pg. 122.

"'My theme,' Dita said soberly, 'is very brief--but oh, the heartbreak in it. It's 'And your children shall wander in the wilderness.' ' Her clasped hands tightened on each other. 'I was wandering that day . . .' "

Christianity - Old Testament

Arizona

1955

Henderson, Zenna. Pilgrimage: The Book of the People. New York: Avon (1961); pg. 226.

"'Well, I supose you'd like a theme, just to round out things for you--so here it is.

' 'For ye shall pass over Jordan to go in to possess the land which the Lord your God giveth you and ye shall possess it and dwell therein. . . .' ' "

Christianity - Old Testament

Arizona

1955

Henderson, Zenna. Pilgrimage: The Book of the People. New York: Avon (1961); pg. 255.

"For a while I have turned my back on the Promised Land. For our Jordan was crossed those long years ago. "

Christianity - Old Testament

Arizona

1955

Henderson, Zenna. Pilgrimage: The Book of the People. New York: Avon (1961); pg. 166-167.

"'I have a theme song instead of just a theme,' Miss Carolle said. 'Ready?'

Music strummed softly, coming from nowhere and from everywhere...

'By the rivers of BabylonThere we sat down and weptWhen we remembered Zion.We hanged our harpsUpon the willows in the midst thereof.For there they that carried us away captiveRequired of us a songAnd they that wasted usRequired of us mirthSaying, 'Sing us one of the songs of Zion.'How shall we sing the Lord's songIn a strange land?' "

Christianity - Old Testament

Arizona

1955

Henderson, Zenna. Pilgrimage: The Book of the People. New York: Avon (1961); pg. 80-81.

"'...Your inner mind is sacredly your own. The People are taught reverence for individual privacy. Whatever powers we have are for healing, not for hurting. We have health and life for you if you'll accept it. You see, there is balm in Gilead! Don't refuse it, Lea.' "

...'Yes, of course. In cellular automaton theory, it's a state of the system that can't be the result of any previous state. No other pattern of cells can give rise to it. If you want a Garden-of-Eden configuration, you have to start with it--you have to put it in by hand as the system's first state.' " [More about this, pg. 182-183, 186, 201, 203, 209, 216, etc..]

Pg. 308: "The biblical reference was not so bad, as most kids didn't know who Samson was anyways, but once it started, it stayed, and from time to time, my classmates in the schoolyard would tease, Samson, oh Samson, where is your long hair? " [Some other refs., not in DB.]

"Delilah was waiting for me outside. ' 'Many of them brought their books together and burned them,' ' she quoted. 'Acts 19:19.'

' 'Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me,' ' I said. " [Delilah supports book censorship with her verse, and the teacher retorts with a verse that chides her for her excessive suntanning.] "'That thing you said yesterday about the sun turning people black, what was that from?'

'The Bible,' I said. 'Song of Solomon. Chapter 1, Verse 6.'

'Oh,' she said, relieved. 'That's not in the Bible anymore. We threw it out.' "; Pg. 123: 1 Samuel 15:22

"'Look for solutions from within, Commander.' At Sisko's puzzled expression, the Kai limped across the stone floor to a carved box that reminded him strongly of holos he'd seen of the Hebrew Ark of the Covenant. "

"'Bit of divine retribution there.' The last of the synthale went down O'Brien's throat; he thumped the empty mug down upon the table. 'McHogue must have played hooky the day they talked about Sodom and Gomorrah at school.'

'I'm unfamiliar with those worlds.'

'Everybody is, these days.' The drink appeared to have loosened O'Brien's tongue. 'Though maybe McHogue knows more than we do about these things. How does the old song go? 'What's so horrible about a hurricane, compared to somebody who wants his fun?' "

"Sisko... smiled grimly. At least I have one advantage denied old Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, he thought; the reactor force shield. "

Christianity - Old Testament

Diaspar

1000000000

Clarke, Arthur C. The City and the Stars. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World (1956); pg. 35.

"The movement of the floor slowed imperceptibly until it came to rest at the end of a long hall lined with mirrors, and Alvin knew that there was no hope of hurrying Alystra here. It was not merely that some feminine characteristics had survived unchanged since Eve; no one could have resisted the fascination of this place. "

"Breckenridge threw up his hands. 'Sweet Land of Canaan, no! Not mo' Rationalist sennament for the Mother country.' "

Christianity - Old Testament

Ecuador

1986

Vonnegut, Kurt. Galapagos. New York: Delacorte Press (1985); pg. 49.

"The biology teacher from Ilium, however, since she had ceased ovulating, would not, could not, become his Eve. So she had to be more like a god instead. "

Christianity - Old Testament

Europe

1470 C.E.

Gentle, Mary. A Secret History. New York: Avon Books (1999); pg. 269.

"'I hate bad preaching.' Godfrey sat on another wooden chest. 'I've just been giving them Exodus chapter ten, verse twenty-two, where Moses calls down a thick darkness from heaven over Egypt. Someone who knows is bound to ask why that only lasted three days, and this has gone on for three weeks.' "

"The Garden of Eden on stilts, that's what the stinking water tank had become. The scale corroding the tank emitted not a stench but a perfume. Their bodies were relaxed, purged of lust, and no serpent had yet appeared. "

"Beautiful trees he saw and flowers, a great garden very much similar to the Garden of Eden. It was unspoiled by greedy man. Animals lay down with other animals. People walked around in peace and friendship. There was no strife.

Ron saw all this and he was sad, for he knew that man had destroyed his own world. Would man destroy this veritible Garden of Paradise? The heart of the superman was troubled... "

"Joe didn't know what he had expected. He had envisioned perhaps a lush and luxuriant world, a Garden-of-Eden perfection. A world where nature had been completely conquered and molded to the inhabitants' desires. "

We are always striving to increase the accuracy and usefulness of our website. We are happy to hear from you. Please submit questions, suggestions, comments, corrections, etc. to: webmaster@adherents.com.